Phoenix eye fruit is a very rare medicinal food ingredient, mainly harvested in July. It is both edible and medicinal, mainly grown in the southern region of China. However, due to its small yield, we need to pay extra attention to the cultivation of phoenix eye fruit.
Phoenix eye fruit image
【Nutritional Value of Phoenix Eye Fruit】
This "mysterious" fruit is harvested in July, just before and after the Qixi Festival in Chinese folklore. Therefore, phoenix eye fruit has an important role in Guangdong folk customs and is used as an offering during the Qixi Festival, also known as the "Seven Sisters Fruit".
Phoenix eye fruit itself has the effect of warming the stomach, invigorating the spleen, relieving annoyance, and reducing heat. It is a rare ingredient. Phoenix eye fruit is mostly cooked through stewing and boiling. Among them, phoenix eye fruit stewed chicken is the most classic dish.
Phoenix eye fruit can be used in both food and medicine. When cooked with various types of meat, it has the effects of nourishing the stomach, clearing the intestines, relieving heat and dampness, and improving vision. It is especially suitable for consumption in the southern climate.
Phoenix eye fruit has high medicinal value and is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat common stomach diseases such as gastritis and gastric ulcers. In addition, the bark of phoenix eye fruit is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat asthma, with excellent results.
Phoenix eye fruit can also expel intestinal worms in the human body, especially when there is abdominal pain caused by ascariasis. The treatment effect of phoenix eye fruit is obvious. In addition, it also has detoxifying effects and can treat childhood scalp sores.
Phoenix eye fruit image
【Cooking Methods of Phoenix Eye Fruit】
1. Phoenix Eye Fruit and Tremella Soup
Ingredients: 500g phoenix eye fruit, a small handful of red dates, a small piece of tremella, an appropriate amount of longan, an appropriate amount of brown sugar, a small handful of goji berries.
Method: Boil the phoenix eye fruit in water, peel and wash. Soak the tremella in water and tear it into small pieces. Remove the pit from the red dates. Add the longan, red dates, and tremella to the boiling water and simmer for half an hour. Add brown sugar and goji berries, bring to a boil, and then turn off the heat.
2. Phoenix Eye Fruit Braised Chicken
Ingredients: 250g phoenix eye fruit, one free-range chicken, an appropriate amount of salt, sugar, rice wine, ginger slices, and green onions.
Instructions: Take a free-range chicken, wash and cut it into small pieces. Marinate it with salt, sugar, and rice wine to remove the smell. Then, peel half a kilogram of phoenix eye fruit, remove the black outer shell, and tear off the brown membrane. Wash the white kernel and cook it. Heat the wok, add oil, and stir-fry the ginger slices and green onions until fragrant. Add the chicken pieces and stir-fry until they change color. Add the phoenix eye fruit and simmer together for 15 minutes.
Phoenix eye fruit image
【Requirements for Cultivating Phoenix Eye Fruit】
Phoenix eye fruit has a low yield and is difficult to be commercially cultivated on a large scale. Therefore, its cultivation is not widespread, and it is a very rare fruit in the Lingnan region. Due to the low annual yield of phoenix eye fruit and the decline in traditional ritual customs, there are very few orchards with large-scale cultivation, and it is only sporadically planted.
Phoenix eye fruit prefers sunlight and a warm and humid climate. It is not very demanding on soil, but it has a well-developed root system. Although it can grow well in infertile and sandy soil, sandy loam with good drainage and deep soil is the best. It requires sufficient sunlight and prefers high temperatures and humidity. The suitable temperature for its growth is about 23-32°C.
According to the growth habits of phoenix eye fruit trees, they are resistant to waterlogging but not drought. It is commonly known as "sunny weather for mangoes, rainy weather for phoenix eye fruit". Therefore, during the flowering and young fruiting stages, frequent watering is needed to keep the soil moist. In case of drought, the entire tree crown should be sprayed with water to help flowering and increase fruit yield.
The cultivation of phoenix eye fruit is very simple, especially after it has been planted and established. The management is more extensive. The phoenix eye fruit tree has a strong ability to sprout from the trunk, so it should be pruned appropriately to remove the upper part of the excessive main branch and promote the sprouting of lateral branches, so that the entire tree shape is oval, which is conducive to fruiting and harvesting.
